From the Ashes
by The Wandering Bard
Summary: The city of Zuellni has been at peace for a while. When the city encounters another ruined Regios, Layfon & co. find a survivor and bring him along. What they don't know is that there is another survivor, and this one awakens after they leave. Who are they? What is their purpose? How long will peace last? Read on to find out! AU(no Saya/other dimension) **ON HOLD**
1. The Background Info (optional)

**Important note: **I do not own Chrome-Shelled Regios, merely the plot and any characters/other things that are not from the series.

Also, for those of you already very familiar with the Regios universe you can skip this background info section.

**From the Ashes**

Background Info

* * *

Regios.

Gigantic, insulated mobile cities wherein the remnants of humanity live and survive the harsh world that is now the Earth. After centuries of abuse, the Earth succumbed to the massive amounts of pollution and negligence by humanity, causing an apocalyptic end to the world as most people knew it. Billions died as oceans, rivers, and seas dried up, plants of all kinds and animals of all species began to die off at alarming rates. As resources became ever scarcer, warfare between peoples and states became the only option for survival. This only served to hasten the death of not only the planet, but of humanity.

At the end of it all, the Earth became a barren wasteland. The atmosphere became extremely toxic and polluted, forcing the surviving humans into what is now known as Regios. Self-contained, insulated mobile cities that protected them from the harsh environment of their once beautiful and bountiful world. It allowed them to continue on living and eventually surviving and thriving. Dozens of Regios were created, all of them roaming the vast wasteland.

Each Regios became what was essentially a city-state. Self-governing and independent from any others, though to prevent the outbreak of war at the very beginning there were treaties signed. Rules and regulations put into place to ensure the survival of humanity.

Now running a Regios was highly complicated, which required sophisticated computers to run them - and in fact these computers were extremely advanced for they had artificial intelligence. The Regios themselves, their primary systems run by their AI, were named after them. And these AI were dubbed "Electronic Fairies." The only upkeep that was required by them was that they needed Selenium to continue operating. This has made Selenium mines therefore extremely valuable and sought after.

Whenever two Regios come together, treaties dictate that the Electronic Fairies have directed a competition between them. The competition being fighting to capture the flag located at the very center and top of each Regios. The winner of which gains one Selenium mine from the loser, thus providing the winners with greater chances of continued survival in their new harsh world. These competitions not only provide a Selenium mine to the winner, but also honor and prestige.

There two different types of Regios, and according to the treaties only Regios of the same type may fight each other. These two types are: Academy cities and General cities. Academy cities are places of learning where people from all different backgrounds and cities are welcome to come and become students. These cities are largely run by the students themselves. General cities are where the majority of the surviving population live and are thus far bigger and in most cases stronger than Academy cities.

While the Electronic Fairies had a degree of autonomy, for the most part running their respective Regios was of paramount importance to them. When a Regios was lost or destroyed, these Electronic Fairies went mad with a loss of purpose, and unless destroyed they went on a rampage to either harm other Regios or to find a host whom they can imbue with their immense power; if their host however is too weak, they will be corrupted by the power and become mindless, chaotic and violent shells of themselves.

A polluted and toxic world and competition between Regios is not the greatest concern for humanity at this age, however. There is a far bigger danger to the survival of mankind: the Contaminoids. These are creatures that have mutated rapidly due to the pollutants in the atmosphere and have become enormous, violent, and hungry beasts. They are for the most part insect-like and feed on three things: the pollutants in the environment, people, and each other if neither of the first two is available.

Because of their mutations, they are big, strong, and in some cases fast. Whenever a Regios encounters Contaminoids, they are attacked and thus each city must have a means to protect itself - usually those who participate in the competitions fight to protect their city from these creatures. Contaminoids have different stages, growing bigger and stronger as time goes on and becoming increasingly difficult to kill.

It is unknown whether it was out of a need to survive or because of the pollutants in the air, or perhaps because of both, but some humans have an extra organ in their bodies. This organ, known as Organ-K, produces a type of energy called Kei with which warriors known as Martial Artists can use to fight. These Kei users are the ones who compete and fight against other Regios and defend their cities from Contaminoids.

Each person has a different level of Kei production and thus strength. And there are different types of Kei too: External Kei, Internal Kei, and Psychokinetic Kei. Everyone with an Organ-K can learn to wield both External and Internal types, but in order to have the Psychokinetic type one must be born with the ability. Those with Psychokinetic Kei are called Nen-I users and have the ability to not only sense everything in their environment but to also provide telepathic communications between different people - they are excellent support units that provide not only battlefield intelligence but communications capabilities as well.

While it is possible to use Kei energy without any focusing tool or weapon, to effectively use one's abilities as a Kei wielder one must use what is called a DITE. DITEs are small transformable devices when unused, similar in shape to a tape recorder. They are able to turn into a weapon when the user activates it by saying "Restoration" and focusing their Kei energy.

DITEs can take the shape of any weapon, including swords, spears, rifles, staves, katanas, and many others. Some DITEs are even capable of switching to many different types of weapons, the data of each weapon type being stored in the DITE and the user having to concentrate and call out which version of their weapon they want to use.

There are very special DITEs called Heaven's Blades, of which there are twelve. All of them are located in the grand city of Glendan and are under the control of the Royal Family. The users of these Heaven's Blades are extremely powerful Kei users and are essentially the strongest among all Regios, especially with their weapons. They know highly advanced Martial Arts techniques that allow them to harness their extreme amounts of Kei. Nobody other than another Heaven's Blade can defeat a Heaven's Blade.

This is all the background information you need to know. Now on with the story!

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**Author's notes: **Another anime that I liked and that I want to write about. I'm surprised that there are very very few stories on here with this anime. Anyways, enjoy!


	2. The Unknown City

**Important note: **NOW the story begins. Let me know what you think!

**From the Ashes**

The Unknown City

* * *

Layfon Alseif was walking alone in one of the parks in the Regios city of Zuellni, his hands in his pockets.

As an Academy city, Zuellni was governed by the Student Body Council - or more specifically the Student President, Kalian Loss. He was intelligent, cold, and calculating. His main objective in life being the survival and well-being of Zuellni, which he would protect at all costs even if it means his own life. He was also a most excellent orator. All of these things combined to make him quite the leader and for the most part his plans and orders were followed without question.

Layfon wore his traditional Zuellni Military Arts uniform, a button with XVII on it signifying that he was a member of the 17th platoon of Zuellni's military. He ran a hand through his short brown hair and let out a long sigh. He enjoyed these quiet days and this moments walking through the beautiful park where he could be alone and think.

It had been weeks since they last had any contact with Contaminoids, or any other Regios for that matter. Ever since that major battle wherein an enormous Contaminoid had appeared and Zuellni and Glendan had to fight it off together, they had encountered only a few incidents of Contaminoids. That battle had been a trying time, but they had survived and were now still in the process of rebuilding and regaining strength. Looking around at the ongoing construction in the city, he wondered how long this peace would last.

Pink flower petals floated by, catching his attention. A young female voice suddenly spoke in his mind.

_Layfee, please report to the Student Council at once. We'll see you there._

That was Felli Loss, his platoon's Nen-I operator and younger sister to Zuellni's leader, Kalian. She was a year older than him and was one of the most gifted Nen-I operators in existence. At least as far as Layfon knew.

He started to head towards the Student Council building, wondering what the deal was. Whatever the situation, it must be something serious. He quickened his pace.

It took him about ten minutes of brisk walking to reach the building, heading up to the top floor where the Student Council President's office was located. He walked in to the office and found that the rest of the seventeenth platoon was present as well as Kalian and his Council members, all except one of whom were girls. The one exception being Vanze Haldey, leader of the 1st Platoon and commander of Zuellni's Military.

"What's happening? Are we in danger? Is it Contaminoids?" asked Layfon as he walked over to stand by his platoon.

His platoon leader, Nina Antalk. She had short, spikey blonde hair that went slightly past her ears and blue eyes that had a look of worry about them at the moment. Next to her and between her and Layfon stood Felli, who was much shorter than the two of them. She had knee-length silver hair and matching silver eyes, in her hands she held her rod with which she could send out her sensory petals.

On the other side of Nina stood Sharnid Elipton, the platoons sniper and guns specialist. He had his blonde hair tied into a ponytail that ran down to his waist as usual. His green eyes had a serious look about them, which he rarely had outside of a battle situation. Standing beside Sharnid was another blonde girl, though she had long curly blonde hair unlike Nina. Her name was Dalshena Che Matelna, though her nickname was Shena. She was quite beautiful and had interesting yellow eyes. Next to her was the platoon's DITE mechanic, Harley Sutton, who had a cap on as per usual over his green hair. His gray eyes looked about curiously, he probably was wondering what the situation was as well.

All of them stood in a line in front of the President's desk, behind which sat Kalian. To his right stood Vanze, his arms crossed, and the other Council members were off to the side. Kalian himself was very similar to Felli in that he had long silver hair and silver eyes, though he was of course taller and slightly bigger than Felli. He had big round glasses on his face, making him look more even smarter and more professional.

He had his elbows on the table and his hands intertwined in front of him, his silver eyes watching Layfon as he had walked in. He responded to Layfon's questions.

"Now that you're all here, I can tell you our current situation. As you know, we are still rebuilding and recovering from the major battle a few months ago. Thankfully, Zuellni has steered us clear from any Contaminoids and we have had some peace," he began, "However," and he paused to emphasis the word, "It appears that we are approaching an unknown Regios."

They all looked at each other. While this was not exactly good news, this was not bad news either. If they were going to have a municipal competition, or Inter-City Competition, they had a good chance of winning. Especially with Layfon. This meant that they might be able to add another Selenium mine to the one they already possessed, which would be a most welcome prize.

"What city is it, Kalian?" asked Nina, voicing what everyone else in the room wanted to ask.

"We don't know."

There was a pause. As if they were waiting for him to start laughing and say he was joking. But he stayed serious and silent.

"You don't know?! How can you not know?" she blurted out, confused. This has never happened before. Usually when one Regios is approaching another, their identities are known almost immediately.

"It is an unknown Regios. One that we've never seen or heard of before," explained Kalian simply. "As you know, this is cause for concern. The city is still too far for Felli to scout out, but our long range scanners show that we are indeed heading for an unknown Regios."

"An unknown Regios...?" repeated Harley, his curiosity piqued along with everyone else's.

"What makes this even more interesting is that the Regios appears to be unmoving," added Kalian, "If this is the case, it may be that this is another ruined city. But we can't tell for sure until we get closer."

"So why did you bring us here?" asked Layfon, trying to get to the point of the matter. He had a feeling he knew what Kalian was going to say though.

Kalian's silver eyes locked on to Layfon's blue ones. "If it is indeed a ruined city, I will as before need you to check it out. But if it's not a ruined city and we are to compete against them," he put his hands down slowly and laid them on the table. "I need you to ensure that we come out victorious."

"We will do everything we can to win, sir," stated Nina.

Kalian smiled a little. "I know that _you _will, but I want to make sure that Layfon here understands the gravity of the situation," he said as he turned to the blonde girl before looking back at Layfon. "I want to remind you that Selenium is vital for the continued survival of a Regios, and therefore Selenium mines are crucial. Zuellni only has one Selenium mine left under its control, so in short: We. Cannot. Lose. Understand?"

Layfon's fists tightened as he clenched his jaw. He gave a short nod. He understood what was at stake and he would make sure that if it comes down to it, Zuellni would win this battle. The city had slowly become his home, though he of course still considered Glendan to be his true home, but for now this was the city he was living in and some of the people he cared about lived there. He would protect it at all costs.

"Excellent." Kalian looked at Vanze. "How long until we are within range to get more information?"

"We should be within range for Felli in about fourteen hours. Our high-level scanners should get within range in seventeen hours. We should be within sight of the other Regios in twenty hours, and we should be in contact with the city within another twenty-eight hours," he reported.

"Alright. Felli, you know what to do. As for the rest of you, I expect you to be back here within twenty hours for a briefing," Kalian said, dismissing them with a wave.

In the elevator, they could not help but talk to each other about what they had been told.

"Anyone else think this whole situation is strange? I mean how could we not know the identity of the other Regios...?" asked Nina, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, this is weird alright," Harley agreed, "Maybe you should ask Zuellni herself?"

Nina looked thoughtful, "I could try."

"Man, I really hope it's a ruined city..." said Sharnid.

"Why is that?" asked Nina, looking sharply at the taller young man.

Sharnid shrugged, "I'd rather scout and explore a ruined Regios than fight a battle with a living one, that's all."

"Don't you remember what happened the last time we explored a ruined Regios?" Felli chimed in pointedly.

Nina tensed at that question and Sharnid looked down, remembering. The last time they had checked out a ruined city they had encountered a rogue Electronic Fairy. It had possessed Nina and caused all sorts of trouble for Zuellni.

"I guess that's not a much better choice after all," admitted Sharnid as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out.

-**xxxxxx**-

Roughly fourteen hours later, Layfon walked along the edge of Zuellni's barrier and spotted the person he was looking for. It was Felli. Her silver hair glowed pink and pink energy emanated from her. She looked to be in deep concentration, her eyes closed. No doubt she was using her abilities to check out the Regios ahead of them since they had not changed course at all. In fact, it seemed like they were picking up speed.

Nina had gone to talk to Zuellni in the hopes that maybe the Electronic Fairy might tell her why it was going towards this unknown Regios, but Zuellni had told her nothing. No matter how hard she asked, Zuellni simply ignored the questions and danced and played around her as if nothing was wrong. At least in this case though Zuellni did not seem to be in any trouble and they took comfort in that knowledge.

Layfon stood a few feet back from Felli, letting her work undisturbed. A group of pink petals floated around his head after a while, and Felli's voice appeared in his mind. He also could sense her distinct mental touch, though only barely as she was only slightly touching his consciousness.

_Hello Fonfon,_ she said.

He smiled, _Hi Felli. What's... what's the news?_

_It is a ruined city, as far as I can tell. I'm too far away to detect any survivors, but I can tell that the Electronic Fairy is no longer present and that the Regios is damaged._

_Ah, I see... _he wondered if it was a Contaminoid attack or if the city simply ran out of Selenium, which was entirely possible.

She turned around and looked at him. _My brother says that he wants to send us out there ahead of the city to check the area, in case there are Contaminoids that might have stayed in the area._

_When?_

_Three hours. I've already told the others. We're meeting at the lockers in an hour and suiting up, then heading over to my brother for a briefing before departing_, she informed him.

She stopped glowing and glowing pink petals started to return to the rod she held in her hands. She staggered slightly, a bit spent from her efforts and Layfon rushed to her side, grasping her and holding her steady against him. For the briefest moment, Layfon could've sword that she smiled, but it was gone as quickly as it had come and he wondered if perhaps he had imagined it.

"Thanks," she said softly.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked worriedly, "Will you be okay to go out?"

She nodded, making no effort to get out of his hold, "I'll be fine."

After another minute of silence as he waited patiently for her to gather herself, she finally separated from him. "I'm hungry," she stated simply.

Layfon grinned, "I guess we have some time to get something to eat on the way to the locker room. Come on, it'll be my treat."

They stopped by a fast food place and got a few delicious burgers, some fries, and soda. They had about forty minutes to spare before they needed to report to the locker rooms and suit up so they sat down and ate at the fast food place.

"I love these burgers. They're so juicy and delicious," Layfon commented as he bit into the burger in his hands. He had not realized that he was hungry as well until they had gotten there and his stomach growled.

Felli nodded in agreement as she munched on her own burger, "They are quite delicious."

Once they were finished, they started to walk over to the barracks.

"Hey, Felli..." Layfon looked at her as they walked.

"Yes, Fonfon?"

"When you were checking out the other Regios... did you look for Contaminoids in the area too?"

"Of course," she replied.

"And?"

"And there are no Contaminoids as far as I could tell, but again we were on the very edge of my range so I could be wrong..." she trailed off.

"Does that mean you could be wrong about the Regios too? Maybe it's not ruined?"

She shook her head, "That I _am _sure of."

Layfon had his hands in his pockets as they neared the barracks. "I hope we don't find a rogue Electronic Fairy again."

"Worried about one possessing Nina again?" replied the silver-haired girl with a hint of irritation, though Layfon did not notice it.

"No... well, yeah... but I mean, like you said the last time we encountered a ruined Regios it caused a lot of problems for us. I just hope this time it turns out differently, you know?" He shrugged.

Felli said nothing else as they entered the barracks and made for the locker room, getting there a few minutes ahead of the scheduled time. Unsurprisingly, Nina was already there along with Harley. They all greeted each other. Each of them was at their locker, inspecting their equipment and readying their suits for their mission.

As the appointed meeting time came, Shena walked in. Unsurprisingly, Sharnid was late. He came in a few minutes later, apologizing for his tardiness though it had become a habit now and everyone was used to it. Not that Nina approved, but it was near impossible to make him come in on time, let alone early. It was simply his nature to be a little late.

"Alright everyone, make sure you've got full oxygen levels in your suits and that everything is working properly. Harley, do a last minute check on everyone's DITEs just in case," Nina ordered.

Once everything was in order, they all suited up except Harley since he did not deploy in operations. They left their helmets off and simply held them until they needed to use them, no sense in wasting suit oxygen after all. Their DITEs hung securely from a strap on their waists. One final check and they were off to Student Council to get briefed.

Kalian was alone this time. It was very early in the morning, the sun only beginning to peek above the horizon and the darkness slowly abating.

"As you already know, the Regios we are approaching is ruined and most likely abandoned. That said, I want you to go ahead to scout the area for any Contaminoids. If there are any, you already know what to do... And once you reach the city I want you to check for survivors and any useful information that you find. Like the identity of the Regios for instance as well as clues as to what caused it the Regios to fall," he briefed them. "Is that understood? Got any questions?"

Everyone merely nodded. There were no questions.

He looked at Felli, "Very well, you are dismissed. And please... take care."

They soon made their way to the military docking bay of the city, staying in the staging area for a while as they waited for the appointed time to set out. Once the time had come, they mounted the bike transports reserved for their platoon. There were three vehicles. Felli and Nina were in one and Sharnid and Shena were in another. Layfon took the remaining bike. Harley would stay behind, as he usually did since he did not fight.

"Okay everyone. We're going to be moving full speed towards the Regios," said Nina as they all put their helmets on. "I'll take the lead. Layfon you be on my left, Sharnid you guys take the right flank. Felli, make sure you're scanning the area."

With that said, they fired up their engines. Lights started flashing in the docking bay as a siren wailed, indicating that the gates were opening and the ramp to the docking bay was extending. Since the Regios was moving, it was a little trickier to deploy but the bikes could move faster than the Regios so it was not too much of a problem.

Soon they were outside in the harsh environment, behind them trailed dirt clouds with the wind buffeting them as they raced towards the unknown city.

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**Author's notes: **I hope you liked it. More to come! Also, the whole Saya part of the manga/anime will not be incorporated into this story.


	3. The Survivor

**From the Ashes**

The Survivor

* * *

They were close. They had traveled for a few hours already at top speed, and the vehicles seemed to be protesting at the intense usage as they started to shudder and the engines started to whine more as time went on. Thankfully, so far no Contaminoids had been detected. Because they were so close now, Felli also started to scan the ruined city in case there were any Contaminoids left over there as well.

As she suspected, however, there were none. The city was devoid of any life signs as far as she could tell, but if she got even closer and scanned from there she would be able to be absolutely certain of that. Whenever this city fell, it was a long time ago and any Contaminoids that may have stuck around were long gone by now. She informed everyone that the area was clear of the beasts, and they all felt some relief at that news.

_Any signs of survivors, Felli? _thought Layfon through the mental connection she had put into place with the platoon.

_No, none that I can detect. I'll continue looking though_, she replied.

Another hour later and they stopped right underneath the edge of the ruined city. It was partially fallen to one side, part of its support legs having been destroyed in the battle that no doubt destroyed the city. Layfon got out and inspected the area with his eyes, noting the severity of the damages that were clearly evident even from down here. It was clear that this was far worse of an incident than the previous ruined city of Gandoweria, which was not as badly damaged.

From what he could tell, there was at least one elder present in this fight. They stood no chance without someone of a Heaven's Blade caliber to fight for them once an elder got involved. Those types were few and far between, and for good reason as they are the oldest and strongest of all Contaminoids and took many many years to reach that stage.

Nina took charge as she finished looking over the city from where they were standing. "Okay, Layfon myself and Shena will head up to the city to investigate. Sharnid, you and Felli stay here by the vehicles," Sharnid cocked his rifle at that, "Felli, will you be okay using your Nen-I from here?"

She nodded, "This is close enough."

"Good. Alright, Layfon... if you would please," Nina said as she waved up to the city.

"Right," said Layfon as he walked over to her. Shena got closer too. Taking his DITE, he extended his arm out and said, "Restoration, Zero-Two." His DITE activated. He raised his arm up and concentrated his Kei energy. A golden thread shot out from the tip of his DITE and flew up towards the city, wrapping itself tightly around something high up there.

He turned to the two girls, "Okay, grab on." He tried hard to ignore the fact that they were both pressing up against him, and the girls did the same. All of them were a little flushed at the cheeks. Sharnid shook his head and looked away and Felli frowned ever so slightly.

A second later and they were flying upwards through the air as Layfon retracted the string through the DITE, pulling them up towards the city. Several seconds of climbing later and they landed softly on the main floor of the Regios. The atmosphere was no longer insulated, the systems controlling it having died out a while back either from disrepair or lack of energy. Or both.

Taking their first close up look at the city itself, they were all surprised at the extent of the damage. Again, they had never seen such devastation before. It must have been one heck of a battle for this kind of destruction to appear. Entire buildings were completely leveled and there were giant holes and patches all over the city's main floor, allowing a look into the lower levels.

Similar to Gandoweria, there were some dried up outer shells from Contaminoids that had stayed after the battle and shed here, though not as many. No doubt there were not as many as in Gandoweria because this city was open to the elements whereas Gandoweria still had its atmosphere control up and running.

"Okay, let's try to find their administration building. We need to figure out what this place is," Nina said after they had taken their fill of their first look. "Felli, anything?" she said aloud.

_Nothing yet_, she chimed into all of their heads.

Walking through the ruined and deserted streets, they all felt that eerie feeling come over them. It was always strange to walk through the ruins of places where people used to live. Partly because it reminded one of similarities to one's own home, which made one think of what might happen should this same situation occur to one's home. Partly because thinking about the people who used to live here and how this used to be a bustling place full of life was simply eerie.

It took them a while to make their way to the center of the city, where there was a giant building still largely intact with an enormous tower rising up from the middle of it. A broken flagpole could be seen at the top, though the flag was not visible.

"Layfon, go up there and check for a flag will you? Shena and I will go through the building and find any logs or papers of some kind," said Nina.

"Got it." Layfon again used his gold string to take himself up to the top of the tower. Upon reaching the top, the tower groaned from the sudden change in weight because of him and he froze. The groaning of metal stopped however and nothing happened, so he breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly made his way to the broken flagpole, the piece with the flag having fallen off to the side. He grabbed and unfurled the flag, dust and ash falling off it and creating a little cloud. He waved his hand to clear it as he took a good look at it.

The flag had a barely discernible design on it, the many years and the exposure to the elements having not been kind to it. He made sure to take a picture with his mounted head camera before placing it back down. He moved towards the edge so that he could get down from there and again the tower groaned and shook slightly. Quickly and warily he let the golden thread out again and slowly lowered himself to the ground.

Nina and Shena were still inside, going through the deserted offices of the administration building. There was debris everywhere, with furniture largely overturned and broken. There were numerous holes and cracks in the walls, some large and some small. Even the ceiling had holes and cracks, with dust falling every now and then from different parts of it. The whole scene made them wary of the structural integrity of the place.

"Let's split up so we can cover more ground faster," Nina said, "Be careful and stay on your guard."

"Yeah, I got it," Shena said, rolling her eyes a little as she split away from Nina towards the other side of the building. She didn't need someone to tell her to be on her guard since that was a given after all. She was no rookie.

It took them about ten minutes to do a sweep of the first floor. They met by the stairs, having found nothing of value. Layfon's voice echoed in their heads through the psychic connection between them set up by Felli.

"Are you guys alright in there?"

Nina responded to him, "Yes, Layfon. We just finished going through the first floor. This might take a little while."

"Well, I'll do a sweep of the rest of the city then."

"Be careful."

"Always."

Nina looked to the long-haired blonde next to her. "Let's keep going."

-**xxxxxx**-

Thirty minutes later, they met outside the administration building. Nina had found some old records in the higher up offices and even ripped out a hard drive from one of the computers up there that seemed to still be mostly intact. They would be able to have that analyzed once they got back to Zuellni. From the records she gleaned that the city was once called Xanthis, though from her memory she could not recall any city named that.

"You find anything, Layfon?" asked Nina as she placed her findings in a little pack that she had brought along and that was strapped around her waist.

He shook his head. "It's a ghost town."

"Well, let's go and check the lower levels," she said. "Felli, where's the nearest access point for the lower levels?"

The Nen-I operator directed them towards it.

"Thanks. You guys okay down there?"

Sharnid's voice chuckled through the connection, "It's pretty boring down here. But, I don't really mind."

As the three of them entered the lower level access point and started to go down the stairs, Felli urgently spoke to them.

"I may have found something... picking up faint traces of life... near the lowest level."

They looked at each other with surprise and disbelief. "Exact level?" asked Nina.

Layfon started running down there already, closely followed by the other two as they waited for Felli's reply.

"Level G17," she told them. They were currently on the way down to G2. With the elevator out, this was sure to be a long and tiresome journey downwards.

Layfon was barely winded and sweating by the time he got down there. On the other hand, the girls had lagged behind a little and were more out of breath. Still, they managed to get down to G17. It was very dark, with what little light there was coming from the stairwell. They all turned on their mounted helmet flashlights. This far down into the bowels of the city, aesthetics were unnecessary so there were a lot of exposed pipes and wires as well as bare metal walls and steel walkways.

"Felli, we've made it to G17. Do you know exactly where you detected the signs of life on this level?" Layfon asked as they moved forward through the dark main passageway.

"Yes. Keep going, turn right at the second intersection and then left. And then there should be a room on the left-hand side where I am detecting energy readings," she replied.

"Energy readings? I thought you said signs of life?" said Layfon as they followed her instructions.

"There is no power to any part of the city except there, isn't that considered a sign of life?" she said flatly.

"Ah, I guess you're right. Sorry," Layfon felt a little stupid for asking that.

They were soon standing in front of a sealed door that was barely discernible if you weren't looking for it. That made everyone curious as to what lay behind the door. Nina and Shena stood on either side of the door, their backs against the wall and their DITEs out and active. Layfon also activated his DITE, which turned into a sword. He stood in front of the door and looked to Nina, who gave a nod.

He activated the semi-hidden panel that was on the door, causing it to beep and light up. A second later there was a hissing sound and the sealed door unlocked and slid open. Layfon had his sword out, ready to strike or defend if needed, but there was nobody there. Only a faint green glow greeted him as he walked in. The humming sound of a machine echoed in the room. Looking at where the sound and the glow was coming from, Layfon was surprised to see what looked like a capsule in the midst of a big, boxy machine. Nina and Shena walked in right behind him and had the same look of surprise.

"What is that thing?" asked Shena as she walked around it, inspecting it.

"No idea," Layfon replied truthfully.

Nina walked around it as well, eyeing in carefully. "I think... I think it's some kind of stasis machine."

"A stasis machine?" repeated Shena, her face scrunching up as she tried to understand.

"Yeah.. it keeps a body in a sort of... suspended animation mode. A stasis mode. It helps preserve the body over a long period of time," she explained a little hesitantly, "Though I didn't think the technology was successfully finished. This one definitely looks like it's active."

Felli spoke up then, "I am detecting a life form in that machine. Human."

"Someone's... alive in there?" Layfon looked closely at the glass tube, which was glowing green. He could not see through the glass, it seemed like there was some kind of smoke inside. Either that or there was frosting on the glass. Maybe even both.

Nina walked up to what looked like the control terminal. She studied the buttons for a moment before she pressed on one. The machine began to make a louder noise before starting to fade and the green glow turned into an orange one. The control panel started blinking lights rapidly and Nina stepped back a little warily, unsure if she had made some kind of mistake in pressing the button.

Then the glass capsule hissed and then whirred open, smoke that was inside it escaping outwards. Stepping up to it slowly, the three of them stared wide-eyed as the figure of a man became apparent. He was wearing some sort of skin-tight white uniform with gold embroidery on it, and from the looks of it he seemed to be in excellent condition. His chest rose and fell steadily, he was lean with well-defined muscles and a clear, light complexion. He had white hair that went a little past his ears. He looked like he was roughly the same age as them.

There was something glowing next to his body. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a sword. It looked very sharp and well-made. It seemed to be made of a white substance along with gold, and it was intricately and beautifully designed. There were runes etched into the blade, though they could not read them.

Layfon reached out to touch it, but as soon as his fingers brushed against the hilt the weapon began to disintegrate and within seconds vanished into golden specks that floated upwards. This caused the girls to give him a look and he shrugged, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck. It was not his fault at all, he merely touched it and it disappeared.

"Well, looks like we found ourselves a survivor," Layfon stated the obvious.

Nina asked Felli if there were any other signs of life, but after a brief pause the girl said that she could not detect any. With that settled, the blonde platoon leader ordered Layfon to carry the survivor out with them. Hesitating for a moment, as if the man might disappear much like the sword had, he grabbed hold of the unconscious survivor and breathed out a breath he had been holding as the young man did not actually disappear.

Hoisting the young man over his shoulder and positioning him so as to be giving him a piggy-back ride, Layfon noted that he was a lot heavier than expected, but he of course had no troubles carrying him. One of the benefits of having strong internal Kei was enhanced strength after all. So while he noted that the survivor was heavier than he looked, it actually did not trouble him at all that he was.

Shena did one last sweep of the room in case they missed anything that might be useful or informative, and finding nothing they decided to get out of there and wait for Zuellni to get closer.

At the edge of the city where they had entered, it took them two trips to get all four of them down to where the vehicles were along with the rest of the platoon. Sharnid and Felli looked at the survivor with a keen interest, seeing him for the first time. Sharnid let out a low whistle.

"He doesn't look any worse for wear," he remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Felli, can you do one last sweep of the area? Make sure there's no Contaminoids nearby?" asked Nina, who looked about at their surroundings.

Felli sighed and nodded, tearing her eyes away from the survivor who had been lain on the ground at that point. Shena sat next to him, eyeing him curiously, as Sharnid stood close by also watching him with interest. Layfon sat on his other side. All of them were wondering who this survivor was and why he was hidden away and safe where they had found him. They wondered if perhaps he was some kind of royalty or at least a family of the leadership of the city, given that his clothes seemed very well-made and had a regal look about them, even though they seemed like combat tights. Why was he alone saved?

"Tell your brother we found a survivor," Nina said after Felli declared once more that the area around them was clear of Contaminoids.

"I already did."

"What did he say?" she asked the silver-haired Nen-I operator.

"He says to keep this a secret and that he'll have a medical team standing by to receive him," she replied instantly, "He'll be kept under observation at the hospital until he wakes up. At which point I believe my brother will have many questions to ask of him." Felli studied the unconscious young man closely, noting that she could sense that he had an immense amount of Kei energy, very similar and yet also different from Layfon's readings.

"Oh. I see," said Nina, looking at the white-haired survivor. She didn't really notice until then that he seemed quite attractive. Embarrassed by what she was thinking, she looked away towards the horizon, spotting Zuellni in the distance. The city was closing in on them.

-**xxxxxx**-

Back in Zuellni, they were met in the docking bay by a small team of medics as Felli had informed them. The team had a medical capsule with them. They placed the survivor into the capsule and ran some initial diagnostics, noting that the survivor's vital signs were steady and strong. While standard medical equipment could not gauge Kei potential like a Nen-I operator could, they could at least measure the size of a person's Organ-K. What they were shocked to find was that the survivor's Organ-K was fifty percent larger than normal. A few minutes later and they had left to take him to the hospital.

On their way back to the barracks, Nina told everyone that they did a good job and told them to get some rest. She also said that she'd keep them updated on the status of the survivor, since they had been the ones to find him after all and thus had an interest in him. Later in her report to Kalian, she left out the part about the weapon that was next to the survivor since it disappeared and therefore there was no point in mentioning it. She also planned on visiting the survivor as soon as she was able to, in case he awakened. She had a feeling she wanted to be there when he did.

Felli had still kept the knowledge of the immense Kei potential of the survivor to herself, much the same as she had always hidden the true extent of her Nen-I powers from everyone as well as keeping Layfon's true Kei potential a secret back in the early days as well. She would ask the survivor about it when he woke up, but other than that she did not want to let that piece of knowledge out. Particularly since that would no doubt make the gears in her brother's head start turning and he'd try to use him again to gain strength and power for Zuellni.

Sharnid and Shena were grilled by Harley about what happened and they told him what they knew, Shena mentioning the sword which surprised both of them since Sharnid had also not head about it. Harley wondered if it was some kind of DITE, though he had never heard of a weapon disappearing into thin air like that. The whole incident made them very interested in who this survivor was and what he was all about.

Layfon felt the same way. He could not help but be intrigued by this lone survivor who had been preserved in some stasis machine and tucked away, hidden in a room that still had power. Even after what apparently seemed years, maybe even decades, since the city fell. He also kept thinking about the weapon that was clearly there and yet disappeared before his very eyes upon touching it. He remembered feeling the hilt for a second before it started to disintegrate into the floating gold dust. He wondered what this guy's story was. No doubt it was very unique.

Kalian read through the report and was already interested in the survivor as soon as Felli had informed him of their find. His curiosity was piqued even more of course when the medical scans showed that he not only had a clean bill of health, but that he had an abnormally large Organ-K. That had to mean that he also had a strong Kei output. He planned to find out more about their new guest as soon as he woke up.

Along with the report came the materials that Nina had taken from the administration building. Kalian had sent the hard drive over to their tech group for analysis and was reading through the old reports from the former city of Xanthis. It had apparently been a rather large city and successful general city, with a competent military force too. So to be overwhelmed and destroyed like that meant that the Contaminoid forces must have been formidable. Still, he wondered why such a big city would have so small and weak a military force than they should have had considering their size and wealth.

He looked through the known database for a city named Xanthis and did not find any, which shocked him. How could there be a Regios that was not on the database? His thoughts then turned to Xanthis' sole survivor, who he hoped would wake up soon so that he may answer the many questions that were beginning to pile up.

Unbeknownst to all of them, as Zuellni moved past the ruined city and went on its way, back in Xanthis hidden even more so than the room where they found the survivor was another room much the same as the first. It was connected in some way to the first room, and upon deactivation of that first stasis machine, this machine also started to deactivate. There was another survivor.

* * *

**Author's notes: **I'm actually quite excited to continue writing this story, so expect more updates very soon!


	4. The Other One

**From the Ashes**

The Other One

* * *

Several days passed and the survivor had still not woken up. The various members of the seventeenth platoon stopped by briefly at different times over the last few days, wondering when he would awaken. Even Kalian had dropped in at one point to check on his new and very interesting guest, though he left disappointed as the young man had not woken up. He had not even stirred, the only movement was his chest rising and falling as he breathed. His condition throughout all this time had remained the same. Stable and strong vitals, but still no consciousness.

It was getting to the point where everyone was beginning to wonder if he would ever wake up from his deep sleep. Perhaps he was in some kind of coma that he would never surface from. To allay some concerns raised that he might even be brain-dead, they did a scan of his head and the results showed that there was still brain activity. All indications pointed to this being a coma, and they did not know when or even if he would awaken. They could do nothing to draw him out of it so it was simply a waiting game.

No one outside of the Seventeenth Platoon, the Student Council, and the medical staff in charge of the survivor was aware that they even found someone alive in the ruined city. Everyone had caught a glimpse and had known that they were passing by a destroyed Regios and they did not expect there to have been a survivor. Kalian wanted to keep it a secret, lest people be overly curious about the man and ask too many questions. Questions that he himself was asking and could not answer.

Kalian was going through expense reports when there was a knock on his door. He looked at the clock on his desk and raised an eyebrow slightly in curiosity. He was not expecting any visitors until later. He wondered who it was.

"Yes? Who is it?" he called out.

"It's Robert, sir. From tech," came the reply. Robert Oudman, head of Zuellni's Technology Department. A highly intelligent guy, skilled with computers.

Kalian felt a rush of excitement - he had to be reporting on the hard drive from Xanthis. It must be something big if he personally came to report it himself.

"Come in," he said finally.

The door opened and in strode an older gentleman in his late forties, brown hair and brown eyes. Starting to go bald as his hair thinned. He had a brown mustache and beard to match. He looked very excited and pleased as he walked in, which made Kalian even more excited. This must be some good news.

"Good afternoon, President. Sorry for the intrusion but this could not wait," greeted the older man, a file in his hands as he approached the desk. He extended the file over to Kailan, who took it quickly.

"Afternoon, Robert. No worries... What's this?" he asked eagerly, opening the file.

"Well sir, we finished analyzing the hard drive last night and we sifted through a lot of data that was packed on there. It must have been a high level official's computer that this was taken from because there's a whole lot of administrative data on it. Lots of detail," he explained, "But the best part was that we found the coordinates as well as a local map of their one remaining Selenium mine."

Kailan smiled as he went through the file, stopping on a full-page blow up of a map. Sure enough, it was a Selenium mine.

"We cross-referenced it with the known Selenium mines in the database and we didn't find it. Much like the city itself was unknown to our database, so was this mine," he continued his report, "It's safe to say that no one has claimed this mine yet and therefore I recommend that we head to it and claim it for ourselves immediately."

"Incredible," Kalian whispered. This was great fortune for them. Now Zuellni would have two Selenium mines. The silver-haired leader looked up and smiled broadly at the older man, who grinned back at him. "This is excellent news. Well done, Robert. I'll have us set a course for this mine immediately." His expression turned serious after a few seconds, "But in order for us not to cause false hope, in the event that this mine might be taken already and we just don't know it or that the mine might be inoperable, I ask that you keep this news to yourself until we get there and assess the situation of the mine. Is that clear?"

Robert's smile faded slightly, but he understood why he was being asked to do this. It made sense after all. He nodded. "I understand completely."

"Good. Great work again, Robert. If this turns out well then we are definitely going to celebrate. Now will that be all?" Kailan pushed his glasses up, his tone dismissive.

"No. That's all, sir. I'll be going now." With that he turned around and left the office.

Kalian picked up the phone as soon as he was gone and dialed for Zuellni's control center. Vanze picked up.

"Vanze, set a course for these coordinates immediately," he then proceeded to relay him the coordinates.

After a few moments, Vanze returned to the phone, "It's done, sir. Zuellni is already changing course and moving there as we speak."

"Excellent."

"If I may ask, where are we going? What is this?"

Kalian paused and thought for a moment. "I'll tell you later. Report to my office in an hour."

"Understood."

With that they both hung up the phone. Kalian took a moment to digest what had recently occurred in the last few minutes. Zuellni's fortunes seemed to be rising - they had saved a powerful Kei user from a ruined city and now they might add another Selenium mine to their control. Things were definitely looking up. He finally started to work through his more mundane tasks again, finishing checking over the expense report and moving on to the supply and market reports. All the while, part of his mind could not stop being excited about the recent turn of events.

-**xxxxxx**-

Layfon watched as Nina left their training session early, which was surprising. She seemed preoccupied with something and he had a feeling it was the survivor that they had recovered from Xanthis. He voiced his thoughts to Harley, who merely shrugged.

"Beats me. I mean, that's one plausible scenario," he said, "Could also be that maybe she's just not feeling well."

In truth, he also could not help but think about the survivor. Days had passed since they had brought him back to Zuellni, and still he had not woken. He wanted to know what had happened, how such a big city had been overrun. He also was dying to know why he specifically was saved. There had to be a reason, and he had a feeling it was an important one.

Layfon deactivated his DITE and handed it over to the green-haired DITE-mechanic. "Here. Can you do some checks on it and make sure it's running smoothly?"

"You betcha! Shouldn't take too long," he scrutinized it as he started to take it apart. "Looks to be in generally good condition, since you haven't really been using it too much lately. It'll take about thirty minutes for me to get it to 100%."

Layfon grinned, "Great. I didn't want to wait too long. I feel naked without my DITE nowadays." He looked around. "Hey, where's Sharnid and Shena by the way? Weren't they supposed to be here for training?"

Harley shrugged, concentrating on his work as his tongue stuck out a little. He was too in the zone to bother voicing a reply, only vaguely registering the question.

Felli had also disappeared, though she had been here only a few moments ago. He wondered where she had gone off to. Probably left after Nina took off. Layfon walked to the entrance of the training hall and opened the door and was surprised to see there was someone standing out there. It was not Felli.

"Hey Layfon!" Naruki Gerni, a tall purple-haired brown-eyed girl. She worked for the Zuellni City Police, a post that Layfon helped her with through assisting in some cases earlier on. The Chief of Police was happy that Layfon helped them out and made sure to note that Naruki was the department's connection to the powerful Martial Artist.

"Oh, hey Naruki. How are you?"

"I'm doing well. The department has been pretty boring lately since there's not much going on right now," she replied, "Not that I'm complaining of course!" She raised her hands and shook them. "How are you doing?"

He laughed a little at what she had said. "I'm fine. Same feeling though, it's a little boring but it's a nice kind of boring. Peaceful. Just training and making sure I'm ready for when the peace ends."

"When it ends?"

"It always ends..." he trailed off, noticing that he was being a downer. He smiled to try and pick up the mood, "So what brings you all the way here, Naruki?"

"Oh right! Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

He thought for a moment. "I don't think I have anything planned. Do you need me for something? Is it another case?"

She smiled sheepishly and shook her head, "No, no! This isn't about another case at all. My friends, Mifi and Mayshen, and I were wondering if you'd join us for a picnic tomorrow afternoon. Say, around three? We'd really love it if you came along."

He recognized those names. The three girls were friends of his. He had met them during his first day at Zuellni as a new student, when he saved Mayshen's life during an altercation between two students that caused part of a building to collapse. If it hadn't been for him, she may have been crushed under debris. They had been friends ever since and were great company.

"Well, I can't promise you for sure since something might come up, but I'll do my best to make it. Is that okay?" he offered.

"Sounds good to me! We'll be waiting at the Eastern Park at three. Have a good day, Layfon!" She bowed her head and left him with a smile.

Layfon watched her walk away for a moment before smiling himself. Mayshen was probably going to be doing the cooking, and she made some of the most delicious food he had ever had in his life. Thinking about the picnic made his mouth water slightly and he went back inside. As he did so, he failed to notice the two girls that appeared out of the bushes a ways down from the 17th's training hall and ran to Naruki excitedly.

-**xxxxxx**-

Nina Antalk walked slowly through the streets of Zuellni. There weren't too many people out as everyone was still either at work or were studying, since there were some exams coming up. The sounds of construction echoed across the city as the rebuilding was still underway. They had already made significant process, given how much damage the city had sustained during the major battle several months ago.

She wandered around, not really aware of where she was heading as she was lost in her thoughts. Things were so peaceful nowadays that things seemed rather dull, though that was mostly because other than training, fighting, and working she did little else. That said, her thoughts lately had been preoccupied with the survivor they had found on Xanthis.

It was the only interesting thing that had happened in the last few months since the battle, and so her mind was trying to understand it. The whole situation was unprecedented and intriguing. She wanted to know about him. Why he was the only survivor and what had truly happened to the city. She also wanted to know more about the city itself and the technology present there, because even though the Regios appeared to be old, they had some technology - like the cryostasis pods - that were far more advanced than modern technology.

Her mind flashed back to when Layfon touched the weapon that was at the survivor's side, causing it to disappear. She wondered what kind of technology that was as well. She had never seen that happen before. Not to mention the sword did not look like any kind of DITE weapon she recognized. She wondered if perhaps this was similar to the Heaven's Blades, since those were the closest weapons she could think of that might resemble that technology.

She did not know for how long she had been walking or where she had even passed through, but her aimless walking had led her to the hospital. She was very much surprised to see it when she finally took the time to check where she was. She looked up at the tall, white stone building with a giant red cross at the top of it. After standing out there for a while in contemplation, she made her way inside.

-**xxxxxx**-

Back in the desolate city of Xanthis, lying in the cryostasis pod deep in the underbelly of the fallen Regios the other survivor slowly regained consciousness. He stirred gradually, his movements weak and sluggish. He opened his eyes gently, violet eyes exposing themselves to the faint light, and then he blinked several times. He groaned. His body felt so stiff. His mind also felt heavy. He soon became aware of where he was and once he felt he was ready he sat up and turned so that his legs dangled off the side of the machine. He started to cough, his throat feeling very dry and his eyes watered slightly from the force of it as well as the scratching of his throat.

As he sat there, he finally noticed that he was partially sitting on something. He raised a leg and realized it was a sword. He carefully extricated it from underneath him and placed it in his hands. It felt right to be holding it, though at this point he didn't really need it. As if heeding his thoughts, the sword disappeared into a violet mist of dust particles. He found that both odd and normal at the same time, and thought nothing of it after that.

The room was dark save for the machine's red glow, signaling that it was deactivated. He tried to think of what had happened and how long he had been in the cryochamber. He realized that he could not really remember much, except that his name was Kyzano (pronounced Key-Za-Noh). He ruffled his shoulder-length black hair and stretched out, trying to loosen his stiff muscles.

After another ten minutes of gathering himself, he felt strong enough to stand so he gently slipped off the edge of the machine. His bare feet landed on the cold, steel floor. He wobbled because he was feeling off balance, but managed to catch himself before he fell down and remain upright. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply a few times before opening them again. He took a few steps forward, happy that he kept his balance the whole time.

A grumbling in his stomach made him acutely aware of the hunger he was feeling. He vaguely recalled that there were emergency food and water rations stashed on the other side of the machine, also put into cryostasis to preserve them. He went over and checked, and seeing that it was full he defrosted them and then heated them up. Once they were ready he gobbled them down quickly, gulping an entire bottle of water down. He saved the second bottle for later as well as the second ready-to-eat food packet. He might need those later.

Again he tried to recall anything about how he had gotten there. Why was he even there in the first place. He tried to remember anything else that might give him clues as to who he was and what this place was. All of this was to no avail as his memory was still very foggy and his mind still sluggish. He really only remembered his name. He was wearing black athletic tights with gold designs embroidered onto them. That finally triggered a memory of someone else who looked quite similar to him, though with different hair and eyes and this person was wearing a white version of his outfit.

A word began to associate itself with this image of the other person.

Brother.

He had a brother. He had family. For a while he tried to figure out the name of his brother, but it would not come to him. He then wondered where his brother was and decided to look for him. Walking carefully to the door, he activated it and it slid open with a hiss after a second. He stepped out into the chilly hallway. It was dark. There was no power at all other than in his room. He frowned, though he kept going. His mind vaguely remembering the layout of the floor he was on.

He did not remember what place exactly he was, but he could at least recall how to get around. In the utter darkness that proved to be highly invaluable. He noted that he felt rather comfortable in the dark. And as he continued to walk he managed to remember where his brother would have been located. He hoped that he was still there. He had this feeling that he had to protect his brother.

He made his way very carefully up several flights of stairs, stopping on the floor that he knew his brother should be on. He eventually reached the hallway where his room was and saw that the door was open and a faint glowing red light was spilling out into the hall. Approaching it cautiously, he called out with a hoarse voice.

"Brother...?" his voice was weak and he coughed a little as his vocal chords were sore from lack of use. There was no answer.

As he looked into the room and walked in, he noticed that the machine was deactivated and opened. The chamber was empty. He looked around for any clues. Was his brother awake already? Where was he? He started to panic a little, wondering why his brother did not come looking for him already. He began to think that something did not seem right with the situation. Maybe someone had taken him away, but he could not be sure of that. He felt like that was the right call though.

His mind seemed to know what he was trying to figure out and a memory again flashed back to him, reminding him of where the security terminal was in the room. It was a hidden terminal, requiring someone to know exactly where it was in order to activate it. Anyone else would have completely missed it unless they were purposefully scanning for it. Kyza pushed at the spot where the hidden button was supposed to be and a panel slid open to the left of it, revealing the security terminal. It was still functioning and was asking for a code.

He punched in a code that he realized was burned into his memory, granting him access to the system. He then looked at the logbook, noting that several days before the door to this room had been opened. He played back the video on the small screen of the terminal and saw that three people had come in. People with weapons and who looked to be wearing some kind of armor.

They had deactivated the chamber of his brother and had then taken him with them. He clenched his fists. They had taken his brother away and he vowed to get him back and make the kidnappers pay.

* * *

**Author's notes: **I've finished outlining the rest of the plot and will continue to write this until it's finished. Looks like it'll be around 26 chapters. On another note, are there not a lot of Regios fans out there? Not a lot of traffic so far.


	5. The Awakening

**From the Ashes**

The Awakening

* * *

Nina felt like she walked for an eternity as she made her way to the wing where they kept the survivor. He was the only patient there, Kalian having ordered the hospital staff to keep that wing of the hospital clear of any other patients. Thankfully there was a lot of room and not a lot of patients, otherwise the staff would have no doubt protested this order.

Turning the corner, she approached the two police officers who were on guard. They stiffened at first, but then recognized her and relaxed. One of them even greeted her as she passed by. She nodded back as she walked along. Stopping in front of his ward, she reached out and touched the handle, hesitating for a moment before opening the door and walking in.

The survivor still lay on the bed, the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor the only sound echoing in the room. She closed the door quietly, as if he were merely asleep and any sudden noise might wake him. But she knew that he was diagnosed to be in a coma. She had talked to the doctors about how thy found him, Kalian telling her that she had permission to discuss such matters with them, and once they recovered from the surprise of hearing about the cryostasis technology they said that the machine might not have run its full course before they removed him. This in turn may have caused a shock in his system and triggered his comatose state.

She felt responsible for what happened, and that was partly why she was visiting him at this very moment. She observed him with sad but curious eyes. Inching closer, she was soon right next to his bed looking down at him.

_He's so cute. _She blushed slightly as she scrutinized him up close. He had surprisingly flawless skin, at least looking at the skin that was currently exposed. His white hair seemed to be a genetic thing rather than showing old age. Gray eyebrows hung over his closed eyes like storm clouds.

He did not move save for the rise and fall of his chest. Not a single twitch. She was actually the one who had noticed this and had asked the doctors if he might have been brain dead due to the lack of movement, but thankfully they checked him out and he was okay in that department. He only needed to get out of his coma somehow.

_Maybe..._ she thought hesitantly.

After a short while she reached out slowly with her right hand and placed it gently on his cheek. To her surprise, his eyes moved behind his eyelids. The first sign of movement she had seen in the six times she had visited him since he had been brought to the hospital. That was five days ago. Did he react to her touch? She withdrew her hand suddenly, shaking her head.

_Damnit Nina, get a hold of yourself... what do you think you're doing? _she berated herself mentally.

Still, she did not want to leave just yet so she went over to one of the comfy seats in the corner and plopped down on it, getting lost in her thoughts once more. She stayed that way for quite some time. In fact, she lost track of time and found that she had actually fallen asleep as she jolted awake several hours later. Her gaze drifted over to the bed where... Her eyes went wide and she stood up immediately. He was _gone_. The covers had been thrown off and he was nowhere to be found. She began to panic as she looked around the room. She realized that the window had been left open to let in a breeze.

_Did he...? _She rushed over immediately and looked down and around. No sign of him. She breathed a small sigh of relief, though she still felt alarmed that he was missing. Her heart rate was up at this point, her heart pounding in her chest as she ran out the door and stumbled into someone. They both yelped in surprise, falling hard to the ground.

"I'm so sorry! I was trying to find him... and... he's awake... or gone... or maybe someone took him!" she blurted out, having fallen on whoever she had bowled into and not even seeing who it was as she apologized.

The man started to laugh a little. His lively green eyes had an amused twinkle in them as he pointed a finger at his face. "Looking for me?"

She yelped again as she moved up to a crouch but then fell backwards onto her butt, sliding across the floor until her back was against the wall. She was panting at this point from the sudden exertions and the still present feeling of alarm. She could not believe it. It was him. And he was wide awake.

"You're... you're..." she could not speak at this point, still a bit shocked. For her, one minute he was still in a coma and the next he was awake and walking around the hallway no less.

He got his torso up, his legs still spread out flat on the floor and rested on his arms which were locked to his sides with palms on the floor. He was smiling, revealing pearly white teeth and showing that he was very much amused by the whole situation. He shook his head to clear away some stray hair that had fallen over his face.

"I'm Toffen. You can just call me Toff, though. What's your name?" He was still smiling.

At this point the police had heard the commotion and had come running, their hands on their baton DITEs ready to use them. They froze as they took in the scene before them. One of the officers finally spoke.

"Uhh... is everything... okay?" he asked, a little unsure of himself.

The green-eyed young man nodded, "I'm fine." He looked at Nina. "Are you?"

Nina was starting to calm down finally. "Y-yeah... Yeah I'm okay. Everything's okay..."

The officers looked at both of them for a second before they relaxed and walked away, though one of them told the other to go and report that the patient was awake and moving.

"What's your name, beautiful?" he asked again.

Nina could not help but blush and stammer again. "H-huh? B-beautiful..?"

"Wait, that's your name?!" he seemed surprised, though also pleased.

She quickly brought her hands up and waved them. "No! No! My name... my name is Nina. Nina Antalk. It's... well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Toffen... err... Toff."

He chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Nina Antalk!" He cocked his head slightly to the side, "Though for a moment there I really thought your name was Beautiful! Would've suited you, but Nina works too." He seemed to have no trouble saying what he thought while Nina had a hard time keeping herself composed and hiding her embarrassment. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and hoped it wasn't too obvious.

"Sorry I scared you," he continued, "I was just hungry and looking for food." He waved his hand around. "None of these rooms have food. I was going to go farther but decided to ask you instead so I was about go back in before you ran into me."

"Oh! It's... It's not a problem at all. Don't worry about it. I... I sort of, kinda overreacted a little..." She hugged her knees to her chest. _Damnit girl, get a hold of yourself!_

Toff got up onto his feet smoothly and reached out his hand to help her up. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before taking it. His grip was firm as he helped her to her feet. She suddenly found herself within inches of him, her eyes looking up at his green ones. They both began to turn red before Nina finally edged away a little and spoke up.

"Well!" she said loudly, "Maybe we should get you some food."

"Right," said Toff as he took one measured step back to increase the distance between them.

Nina thought for a moment and then looked at him again. "Are you sure you're okay... you know... walking around and all? I mean... you _were _in a coma for a while."

He laughed lightly, "I'm fine! It took a little while to get the stiffness out but for the most part it's gone and I can move without discomfort."

Nina observed him for a moment, noting the carefree personality and the calm and controlled body posture. "I think it would make me feel better if you went back inside and lay down for a while though. At least until the doctors come and check on you and clear you to move around."

His smile lessened. "Well if it makes you feel better. I _am _still hungry though."

"I'll get you food. I promise."

"Okay! I'll get back into the bed and wait for the food and the doctors." Without waiting to see if she still had something to say he walked back into his ward.

Nina stood there for a few seconds, still in disbelief and trying to comprehend what occurred before she spun on her heel and headed for the nurse's desk stationed on this floor. She told them that the patient was hungry and to call the doctors up right away to perform a full check up on him. Within another three minutes or so they had the doctors rushing in, surprised looks on their faces as they ran past Nina in the hall.

"What about the food?" she asked the nurse, who told her that they were bringing it up and it would be there soon.

"Besides," said the nurse, "He can only eat after the doctors are done with him anyway."

Satisfied with that answer she walked back to Toff's ward. Three doctors assigned to the patient were huddled outside.

"Excuse me," she said warily as she approached, "Is something... wrong?"

The doctors broke up and one of them turned to Nina while the other two started to walk back where they came. "Oh, no miss. Nothing's wrong, which is why we were discussing. He is in perfect health."

"Are you sure?"

"We did the scan twice, miss. We're sure." With that he excused himself, leaving Nina alone in front of the ward.

As she was walking back into the room, opening the door as she did so, she turned and saw that they were bringing an entire food cart in. She looked questioningly at the nurse, who shrugged and told her that she was simply following Kalian's orders. All sorts of delicious food were in different plates and bowls. Chicken, beef, fish, noodles, rice, shrimp. It seemed like it was all there.

Only two minutes later and Toff was wolfing down his third plate of food without any signs of slowing down. He was absolutely ravenous it seemed and Nina wondered exactly how long he had been in cryostasis.

"This. Is. _Delicious,_" he said in between bites.

"I'm glad you like it," said the familiar voice of Kalian at the door. He was closely followed by Vanze, the both of them eyeing the survivor with barely concealed interest. "I made sure to tell them that you might be extremely hungry and to cook you some extra special meals."

Toff smiled and looked over at him, "So this is all because of you?"

Kalian nodded. "That's right. So eat up!"

"Thanks!"

Sure enough, the green-eyed young man continued to eat. Finishing all five plates of food that were prepared as well as the two bowls of soup and the big pitcher of water. He did not even bother pouring out the water into a glass, which was provided, and drank straight from the pitcher. Once he was finished, he carefully wiped his mouth and chin and then let out a big sigh of content.

"Oops. Did you guys... want some food?" he asked, grinning sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Kalian and Vanze shook their heads, though only Kalian spoke. "Oh no. Not at all! That food was all for you, don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay. Well how about you, Nina?"

Kalian seemed to jump at that, having not realized that Nina was even in the room.

"I'm fine. Thank you very much," she said truthfully. She really wasn't feeling hungry at the moment.

Kalian looked at her then back at Toff. "I see you've met Nina, the leader of our esteemed 17th Platoon and the one who saved you from the ruined city."

Toff smiled. "Yup! She's very nice."

"My name is Kalian Loss, by the way. And this is my associate, Vanze Haldey," Kalian motioned to Vanze as he spoke, his gaze never leaving Toff. "I'm the Student Council President here. I am essentially the leader of this city, and I would like to officially welcome you to the Academy City of Zuellni."

"Nice to meet you, Kalian Loss. You too, Vanze Haldey," the survivor repeated their names back to them, "I'm called Toffen. Though you can call me Toff."

"I see. Well it's nice to meet you, Toff." Kalian reached out his hand for a handshake, which was returned quickly and firmly. Vanze followed Kalian's lead and they also shook hands. Once that was done, Kalian spoke again. "Now, Toff. I know you must be tired..."

"No, not really. I've been sleeping a long while. I feel like I have a _ton _of energy, actually."

"Well, in any case. Is it okay if I ask you some questions?"

Toff seemed to consider that for a moment before eventually nodding as he rubbed his belly. "Sure."

"Okay. Just a few simple questions, really..." Kalian began, "What happened?"

Nina interrupted them, "Should you really be asking that-?"

Kalian held up a hand to silence her, not even bothering to turn and look at her as he looked intently at Toff.

"What happened to what?" Toff seemed to genuinely not know what he was talking about.

"What happened to your city? To Xanthis?"

Toff frowned. The first time Nina had seen him frown. "Don't know. I don't remember."

Kalian sighed. "Well, do you remember why you were saved? Are you... a member of royalty? Perhaps related to the leader of your city? Were _you _the leader?"

"Sorry. I really don't remember much besides my own name," he admitted, shrugging.

"You mean the name Xanthis? Xan. Thisss. That means nothing to you?"

There was no hesitation in the reply. "Nope. Sorry."

Kalian let out another sigh. "Alright. How about this: Do you remember anything about the cryostasis technology that helped to keep you alive?"

"Nope."

"Do you even know what a Regios is?" asked Kalian, a little frustrated at the apparent amnesia of his newly awakened guest.

"Of course! Everyone knows what a Regios is."

Kalian gave a final nod, "Alright. Well, if your memory ever comes back... do let me know."

"Sure thing, Kalian. Now... can someone tell me where the bathroom is?" he asked, a little embarrassed.

-**xxxxxx**-

After the short question and answer session between Kalian and Toff, the President asked Nina to meet with him outside.

"What is it, sir?" she asked, all professional.

Kalian looked at her sternly. "He seems to have taken a liking to you," that statement made her blush ever so slightly, "So it'll be your's and the Seventeenth's job to make sure he has a good time here and that he likes it here. If he needs anything, put it on this card." He handed her a black card with the emblem of Zuellni on it. "Try not to get carried away. Remember, I'll be watching."

He was gone after that with Vanze in tow.

Nina looked at the card and then pocketed it before walking back inside. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I feel great!" he exclaimed with a grin, "Is it okay if we go outside and leave this place? I'm tired of being cooped up in here."

"Sure. How about I introduce you to my platoon?"

Toff looked at her, "The Seventeenth Platoon, correct?"

"Yep. The finest platoon in all of Zuellni!"

"Sounds good to me!" he said as he bounced onto his feet.

They walked out of the hospital, at which point Toff jumped up and down with joy. He laughed as he ran around, still in the white tights that he was found in. He started to say, "Freedom!" as he ran around. Some people close by gave them strange looks and all Nina could do was put a hand to her face and try to melt away, feeling embarrassed at the scene he was causing.

"Hey, Toff. I think we should get you some new clothes," she finally said, causing him to stop and pay attention to her. "Those tights are a little... well... uhh... too tight... and revealing... and all that." She blushed again, realizing what she was saying. She looked away.

He chuckled, causing her to blush even harder as she continued looking away. "Don't worry. There's no need for that!" He concentrated for a moment and suddenly in a flash of light he was wearing loose white robes with similar gold embroidery on them.

The gold embroidered designs looked to be some kind of runes, but Nina did not recognize them. She made a mental note to ask about that, as well as about the fact that he had made robes appear on his body. She wondered if he had somehow used his Kei to do that. That seemed the only logical explanation, unless it was some kind of magic trick.

"There, all better," he said. "Shall we?"

Nina started walking and he followed her and was a little behind her to her left, keeping calm this time. Though from the corner of her eye she could see his head swiveling around as he took in the city of Zuellni. She tried to think of where her platoon would be at this time. The sun was getting close to the horizon already, so it was difficult to predict where they would be.

Then she remembered that she had a Nen-I operator that she could ask to locate everyone else and communicate with them that she needed to meet up. The only problem of course was actually finding her. Felli could also be anywhere at this point, though she did vaguely remember Layfon mentioning that Felli liked to watch the sunset from the westernmost edge of the city.

It was a start. Besides, she was sure that Toff wouldn't mind seeing more of the city as well as his first sunset in Zuellni.

-**xxxxxx**-

On the way back to his office, Kalian had his hands behind his back as he thought hard about what to do about their guest. It was clear that Toff had amnesia of some kind, though Kalian had a feeling his memories would return to him some day. When that happened, he needed to know the answers to the questions he had asked. He at least was relieved to find out that he was friendly. Had it been a hostile one... he didn't even want to think about it.

"Vanze."

"Yes, President?" asked his second-in-command immediately.

"I want him followed. Secretly, of course. I want a report on all his actions every single day," he ordered. "And be sure not get caught. We don't want him knowing that we're spying on him. He might... take it the wrong way," he added.

"Of course. I'll get our best men on it right away."

Kalian needed to know more about this survivor. As much as he may seem like an asset, at this point he also seemed to be quite the liability. He only hoped that he was not unknowingly playing with fire here.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Chugging along, chugging along... choo choo. No reviews and few views, but it's okay. I keep writing because I must!


	6. The Newest Member of Zuellni

**From the Ashes**

The Newest Member of Zuellni

* * *

Nina spotted her platoon Nen-I operator's outline against the setting sun. The sky a mix of orange, red and pink.

The silver-haired girl stood at the edge of the city, right up next to the atmospheric barrier. Her hair glowed pink, though she did not seem to be actively using her Nen-I. Felli half-turned to look back at them, her usual emotionless face half showing. Her eyes passed over Nina and fixated on the young man following her.

"He's awake," she said matter-of-factly as Nina drew near.

"Yeah. We're kind of in charge of him while he's here, according to your brother," explained Nina.

Behind Nina, meandering slowly over with his eyes glued to the horizon, Toff seemed to be enjoying the view. He looked at the silver-haired girl, with her pink hair glowing, and smiled.

"Hello there. I am Toffen, but you may call me Toff." He reached out and patted her lightly on the forehead. "What is your name, little one?"

She crossed her arms and huffed, "My name is Felli, and I _am _about the same age as you, you know."

"My apologies, Felli, I thought..."

"It's fine. Happens all the time," she said flatly, uncrossing her arms as she turned to look at the sunset again. She could not be mad with him, he was completely new after all. Not to mention so far he was a mystery to them all. While her pride was stung a bit from his words, he seemed honest in his apology. Plus she had a feeling she did not want to get on this guy's bad side.

"Anyways, I was hoping you could find and talk to the other members of the Platoon. See if they're busy," Nina requested of her. "I was hoping to have a little platoon activity here with our new friend."

Felli looked at the young man and then nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating on her Nen-I. Within a minute she opened her eyes, having found and spoken to everyone else in the Seventeenth.

"Sharnid and Shena have prior plans. Harley is free and is most interested in meeting with our guest here," stated the silver-haired girl, "Fonfon is free too. He was about to go eat dinner before I contacted him."

"Thanks, Felli. Could you tell Layfon and Harley to meet us at that nice steak place that they have been wanting to try out? You're free to join us too, of course," said the Platoon leader.

"Done. They'll meet us there."

"Did someone say _steak_?" asked Toff, clutching his stomach. His appetite was apparently trying to make up for lost time.

They met up with everyone at the steak place, sans Sharnid and Shena of course, and were seated relatively quickly since there didn't seem to be too many people there. Harley, Nina and Layfon sat on one side of the table while Felli and Toff sat on the other side.

Once everyone had ordered - and Toff had ordered _two _entrees - they all looked at Toff, who was quite happy and grinning. He was looking around, admiring the sights of the expensive restaurant. Felli looked around now and then, as if trying to figure out what was fascinating him so much about the place. From the looks of it though she did not understand him.

Harley leaned over to Nina and whispered, "Is he always this happy?"

Nina shrugged and whispered back, "So far? Yeah, pretty much. Though I _did _see him frown once."

Layfon, having heard their conversation, smiled. He quite liked the survivor. He was friendly and honest. Polite and serious when needed, as when he was ordering. And he was almost always smiling. How could you _not _like someone like that after all?

"So, Toffen. As I mentioned before, this is Layfon Alseif and this is Harley Sutton. They are also members of the Seventeenth Platoon," Nina reintroduced them. "Guys, this is Toffen."

"Please, call me Toff," he said as he greeted them, "Nice to meet you, Layfon Alseif and you Harley Sutton."

"The pleasure is all ours," responded Harley, "You're the honored guest after all!"

He gave them a puzzled look. "Guest? Does this mean that I can't stay here?"

Everyone was quick to shake their heads and say no.

"That's not what I meant!" Harley exclaimed, appalled.

Layfon spoke up, "Of course you can stay here. You can stay here as long as you want. I mean, it's not like..." he stopped himself there as he realized where this was going. _Crap. Crap! Crap! _he thought.

Nina and Felli glared at him, the latter of whom drove her foot into his right shin, making him wince and whimper softly in pain as he doubled over. He tried to make it look like a natural movement, though it didn't seem to work as everyone gave him odd looks.

"It's fine, really. I don't remember my home too well, so it's hard to miss something you don't remember," he said candidly, shrugging to emphasize the point.

Felli's eyes narrowed at that statement and Nina tried to change the subject. "So, Harley here is our platoon's DITE-mechanic. He builds, fixes, and augments the weapons that we use to fight."

Toff appraised the green-haired young man and gave him an approving look. "That's cool! You'll have to show me some of these DITEs that you've made. I'd love to give one a try."

"Well, we could do it after dinner... I mean tomorrow! Yeah, tomorrow would be good," Harley said, changing his mind when Nina nudged him hard in the ribs with her elbow.

Toff nodded, smiling. "Tomorrow it is then." He turned to Layfon. "And you? You have a fighter's look about you. What is your role in the platoon?"

Layfon smiled back, "Well, I _am _a fighter," he admitted.

"And an amazing one at that," Harley added excitedly. "Layfon here was a former Heaven's Blade wielder. A prodigy they said!"

From the blank look on Toff's face, everyone realized that he either never knew about them or could not remember what they were about. They explained to him the significance of that, with Layfon keeping silent on the subject. He did not like to talk about his past as a wielder of a Heaven's Blade. Toff seemed to sense that so he steered away from the topic.

"You'll have to show me your skills sometime, Layfon." He turned to Felli, "And you? What do you do? I remember from when we first met earlier that you seemed to have the ability to telepathically communicate with people."

"That's correct. I'm a Nen-I operator, and I use my Nen-I to set up telepathic communications between people. Furthermore, I also scan the area for any information as well as for enemy movements that I then relay to those who need to know," she explained.

Toff nodded, "That is an impressive ability."

"She's pretty damn good too. They also say she's a prodi-" he didn't finish as he sucked in a rapid breath, as if he had been hit. He even looked to be in pain, before he started to cough and played it out as merely something catching in his throat.

It was then that their food arrived and for the most part they ate in silence. Partly because they were unsure of what to say and partly because they were all so hungry. While they were eating, Nina could not help but shake her head in astonishment at the amount of food that Toff was consuming and had already consumed earlier that day. He did not seem human.

After dinner was over, they all sat quietly around the table. Each of them were full and content.

"Toff," Layfon broke the silence, "Did you want to do anything else? I mean, what do you do for fun? Any hobbies? Work?"

The white-haired, green-eyed young man seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before he shrugged. "I... I don't know."

"Wait. What? Are you telling me you don't know what you do in your spare time or what hobbies you pursue?" Harley blurted out.

"Uh-huh. That's right. Because I don't remember."

Everyone except Nina was giving Toff strange looks. The Platoon Leader sighed. "Sorry guys, I guess we forgot to mention that... well, Toff here has amnesia and can't remember much else other than his name."

"Well, that makes sense now," said Layfon, looking at Toff with a pained look, "That must suck."

Toff laughed it off. "Maybe... I do remember there is that saying... ignorance is bliss, right? It's hard to feel sad and miss something that you don't know exists, since you don't remember it."

"I see your point there," Layfon said, though he still felt bad for the guy. It was hard not to.

Toff clapped his hands together. "In any case, since I do not know what I like to do for fun... what do _you _guys like to do for fun?"

Everyone umm'd and ahh'd as they looked at each other. Other than the occasional celebratory party or eating out with friends, they really didn't do too much outside of their training. Well, maybe there was the occasional walk through the park or swim at the pool, but for the most part they were training in for hours and hours every single day. The rest of their time that they were not doing anything they were recovering and resting. They explained to Toff as such.

"I see." He scratched his chin, "Well then I should see you guys train. And both the park and the swimming pool sound fun. Why don't we go and have fun at those places sometime too?"

Nina glanced at her platoon members before looking at Toff, who in turn was looking back at her. "I don't see why not."

"By the way," said Layfon as he turned to look at Nina, "Where is Toff sleeping? Did Kalien give him his own room?"

Nina balked at the question. She did not know and Kalien had said nothing about the sleeping arrangements. She looked to Felli, who interrupted her before she could say anything.

"I'll ask him," she said begrudgingly as she stood up and walked outside. A moment later she came back in, sitting down heavily. "He says that he'll deal with it in the morning and that one of you guys should let him sleep at your place for the night."

Harley looked apologetic, "I'd offer but I still live with my parents, and they're not too keen on guests coming over to sleep. Plus, it would just look weird for me to bring Toff home and have him sleep there. Even if it _is _only for one night. Sorry."

Layfon shrugged, "I've got no problem letting him sleep on my floor, though it's not too comfortable. Even _with _blankets and a pillow. Trust me, I've fallen off the bed enough times to know."

Nina looked to Felli, who shook her head. The platoon leader looked to Toff, who had been observing the whole discussion quietly.

"You can sleep on my couch for the night," she offered. "As a third year I get good accommodations. The couch is very comfortable, you'd like it."

Toff smiled again. "Great. So what should we do now?"

"Well, _I _am going home and sleeping. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted," Harley stated as he stood up and yawned, stretching as he did so.

Felli concurred, "I need to go home too. I'm feeling very tired." She looked at Toff, who looked back at her. "It was great meeting you, Toffy."

"Toffy?" repeated the green-eyed young man, as if testing how it sounded for himself. He grinned, "Good to meet you too, Felli. Have a good night."

As Felli left, she bade goodbye to everyone else. Including "Fonfon," much to his chagrin as Toff repeated it and gave a questioning look at him. She also thanked Nina for paying, though when she saw the card that Nina used to pay Felli seemed to have a knowing look about her.

Layfon grimaced as Toff repeated Felli's nickname for him again "She likes nicknames..." he explained. He stood up then and shook Toff's hand, "Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. Good to meet you!"

"Likewise!" exclaimed Toff.

Harley came over and shook his hand as well. "I'll show you those DITEs tomorrow when you stop by practice."

"Have a good night!"

Nina and Toff remained at the table as the blonde waited for the bill to come back after having paid for it with the card Kalien had given her. She wondered how much was unreasonable to spend on entertaining and feeding the young man dressed in white robes sitting before her.

"Are we going back to your home to sleep now too?" asked Toff.

Nina looked curiously at him, "Why? Was there something you wanted to do?"

Toff shook his head and yawned himself. "No. Not tonight. This is not the right time."

She wanted to know what it was that he wanted to do, but decided not to push the subject. He'd bring it up when it was, as he said, the right time. They left the restaurant and started for Nina's apartment that was several blocks away. The whole time, Toff was surprisingly silent. It was a nice building, with a decent-sized lobby. The receptionist greeted Nina warmly and was surprised to see an attractive man going back home with her.

They reached Nina's apartment and she unlocked the door, opening it and walking in with Toff in tow. She waved a hand around as she looked at him, "It's not much... but, welcome to my home."

"This is nice," remarked Toff as he walked into Nina's apartment. Two and a half rooms and a bath; one living room, one bedroom, and a kitchenette. She was halfway up the building so she had a decent view of the surrounding area from her windows. A small fenced-in balcony was accessible from both the living room and bedroom. Nina quickly got some blankets and placed them on the couch, along with an extra pillow to go with the soft throw pillows that were on it already.

"You'll be sleeping here," she said and then looked at him, "Well, uh... do you need anything else?"

"No. Though I do need to use the bathroom, if that's alright," he said.

"Of course." Nina pointed to the bathroom that was in the middle of all three rooms and accessible from both living room and bedroom.

He didn't take long and was soon back out, turning out the lights in the living room and then plopping onto the couch. As Nina was about to walk in to her room and shut the door, Toff called out to her and she stopped to look back at him from the doorway.

"Thank you very much for letting me stay here, Nina Antalk, and for everything that you've done for me," he said sincerely, his green eyes gazing directly into her blue ones.

Nina smiled gently, "Good night, Toffy." The door closed with a soft click.

-**xxxxxx**-

The next day, Toff was up bright and early. The sun was only beginning to rise, sunlight faintly glowing along the horizon. He yawned and stretched before sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Nina was right in that he ended up liking the couch very much. It was indeed truly comfortable. He started to do some push-ups, sit-ups, and body squats as well as other exercises that he suddenly remembered that he did every morning.

Bits and pieces of his memory seemed to be coming back to him, but he was still missing much of it. He wondered when or even if he would ever get it all back. Breaking out into a little sweat from the effort, he decided to take a quick shower before Nina woke up. He walked into the bathroom and, taking off his clothes, got into the shower.

He shivered under the cold water, which helped to wake him up more and make him more alert.

Nina woke up groggily from the sound of the shower turning on. Confused as to why her shower was running, she slowly made her way out of her bed, her white silk nightgown dropping barely past her waist and only just covering her up. She rubbed her eyes as she trudged to the bathroom door and opened it. Still in a morning fog, her mind did not even register that there was someone in the shower as she opened the shower door to turn the shower off.

As soon as she did so, however, she froze on the spot as her eyes widened and she abruptly woke up. She squeaked and ran out, shutting the door with a slam as she dove under the covers, completely embarrassed. In her groggy state she had forgotten that Toff had stayed the night on her couch and was thus still in her apartment.

It had taken an enormous amount of self-control not to look down when she realized he was in there and she had shut her eyes immediately before running out. He seemed as stunned as she was at the time as their eyes met, both of them wide in shock and embarrassment. Nina kicked herself mentally several times. She could not believe that she had done that.

Finally collecting herself after a while, she decided that she was to apologize to him once he was out of the bathroom. That moment happened about five minutes later and she quickly left her room and confronted him. Her eyes were downcast and her hands together in front of her. She was fidgeting a little as she stood in the living room. She finally looked up at him.

"Hey, Toff? I'm sorry I... walked in on you in the shower. It was an honest mistake, I was still half asleep and groggy and I wasn't thinking clearly and I had..." she stopped talking as he raised a hand, a smile wide on his face.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

She sighed, relief flooding her.

"Nice nightgown by the way," he commented innocently.

Looking down, she realized she had forgotten to change and her face went completely red as she squealed once more and ran back into her room. She only emerged once she had changed, this time coming out wearing one of her combat uniforms. A patch with XVII on it was stitched high up on the right arm sleeve. She made eye contact with Toff and looked away, her cheeks still flushed a bit.

She was still all wrapped up over her indecency earlier that she had failed to notice that there was breakfast on the small, round wooden table that functioned as her dining table. Toff had made it while she was in her room changing and berating herself for being so absent-minded. She looked at Toff, the earlier events temporarily forgotten.

"I hope you don't mind. I looked around your kitchenette for food and decided to cook some breakfast for us. It's the least I could do for letting me stay here," he said, being careful not to mention anything about earlier that morning.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's fine... and thanks... this looks really good."

He laughed. "I hope it tastes as good as it looks!"

Smiling, she assured him, "I'm sure it does."

He walked around and pulled out a chair, waving her over. Hesitant at first, she sat down in the offered seat and Toff sat down across from her. "Dig in!" he announced as he began to wolf down his own food. Amused, Nina began to eat her breakfast too.

Nina took the first bite and loved it immediately. The breakfast was delicious and she found herself savoring each and every bite. It had been a while since she had a home-cooked meal like this. She did not tell anyone but she was actually pretty terrible at cooking, so she resorted mostly to take-out, eating out, or the Academy dining halls.

Once her plate was clean, she thanked him for the breakfast. "This was honestly one of the best breakfasts I've had in a long while. Thank you for that."

He beamed at the praise. He stood up after and started to collect the empty plates when Nina reached out to grab them, shaking her head.

"I'll clean up," she said strongly, and he relented.

As she was washing the dishes, he asked her what was on the agenda for the day.

"Whatever you want to do. I'm going to training soon with Layfon, Harley, and Felli if you're interested. Maybe even the remaining platoon members who you haven't met yet, Sharnid and Shena, might be there," she told him.

"_Might _be there?"

"Yeah. Today isn't a mandatory training session, and they usually take these days off whenever they can," she explained.

He sat down on the couch, leaning back into the soft backrest. He put his hands behind his head. "Well, I told you guys last night that I wanted to see you guys train, plus I want to see Harley's gadgets. Those DITEs or whatever it is you call them."

"You got it right, they _are _called DITEs. And I'm sure he's brought the whole lot with him this time so that he could show them all off to you," she said, amused. She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Okay, come on. Time to go."

-**xxxxxx**-

They managed to make it to the platoon's training hall right on time for practice. Walking in, they were greeted by Layfon and Harley. The DITE-mechanic had a big metal box behind him, next to which was a toolbox. He waved Toff over.

Toff looked to Nina, who told him to go ahead since she was going to warm up a bit first and then spar with Layfon.

"Morning, Toff! Glad you could make it," greeted Harley. He got on his knees next to the box and pointed at all the rectangular items of different colors inside. "These are the DITEs I was talking about."

Toff smiled at his enthusiasm and energy. "Good morning to you too, Harley." He crouched down and inspected one of the DITEs in his hand. It wasn't too heavy, surprisingly. With the DITE in his hand, Toff's mind had a little bit of memory come back that reminded him what they were used for as well as how to operate them. "These turn into weapons, right?" he asked, eyes still studying the red DITE in his hands.

"That's right. All these DITEs are deactivated. You can activate one by saying 'restoration' but make sure you give it enough space to expand out," he said.

"I'll give it a try." Toff stood up and extended his hand out. "Restoration!"

Sure enough, the DITE glowed and Toff could feel energy coming from him flow into the weapon as it materialized into a small war hammer. The weight changed, getting a little heavier, but it was still not as heavy as it looked. He twirled the hammer around deftly, much to Harley's surprise as well as his own. He did not know why he knew how to handle the weapon, but he was apparently very good at it. It felt right.

"This is pretty cool," said the young boy with white hair as he admired the hammer in his hands. He suddenly realized that Nina and Layfon were sparring, hearing the sounds of their fighting for the first time. He couldn't help but watch as the two went at it, though it did look like Layfon stayed on the defensive most of the time.

Harley looked on approvingly. "Nina looks a lot better today."

"But she's still losing," said Toff.

"Well, yeah... but you have to understand that Layfon, like I said, is on another level."

"Ah, right. Heaven's Blade." Toff tried to imagine what he would be like in a full-on battle, and the images in his head made him want very much to see him fight.

"Yeah. He's something to watch when he lets it loose," Harley said, his eyes seemingly far away as he remembered all those times he saw Layfon truly in action.

The both of them continued to watch Nina and Layfon spar, with Layfon staying on the defensive and only counter-attacking every now and then. His counter-attacks though would almost always land, showing how far their skill gap was.

What impressed Toff about the whole scene was that Nina, no matter how many times she lost, kept attacking. There was no giving up in here. He could see the desire in her eyes. The desire to improve. To get stronger. To win.

-**xxxxxx**-

The training session finished with Nina huffing rapidly, drenched in sweat from her sparring session with Layfon. Not once did she land a blow on him and it annoyed her. Even though she knew that his skill level was several levels above her's, she still could not accept the fact that she did not hit him once. She crouched, trying to catch her breath as she deactivated her DITEs.

Harley came over and took them from her, as well as Layfon's. He needed to run regular maintenance on them after every time they were extensively used. While they were durable weapons, they did wear down and he wanted them to have their weapons at one-hundred percent as often as possible.

Layfon walked over to her and extended his hand to help her up to her feet. She hesitated, her pride not wanting to accept the help, but in the end her reason won out because she knew that he meant well and that she should not act so childish. She took the offered hand and got to her feet.

The former Heaven's Blade grinned, looking straight into her eyes. "You've improved a lot, but you're still focusing too much on your front, leaving your sides exposed. Not to mention your attacks are also focused too much on direct, frontal attacks."

Nina looked away. "Yeah, I realize that. I'll work on it." She said as she crossed her arms, but then she softened a little and added, "Thanks."

Layfon gave a nod and placed a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "You're definitely getting better, so keep it up!" He gave her a thumbs up. "Now I best be going. I still need to shower and change before the picnic."

"Picnic?" she asked curiously.

"Oh yeah! I was invited to a picnic over at East Park with Naruki, Mifi, and Mayshen this afternoon." At that his stomach grumbled and he rubbed the back of his neck as well as his stomach. "Uh.. now I need to decide if I should eat something or wait until the picnic to eat..."

Toff walked over to them at this point. "You guys sure work hard for a volunteer training session," he said smiling.

Layfon laughed. "Nina's works the hardest out of all of us, that's why she's our leader."

"I can see that." He glanced at Nina and then asked, "So what now?"

Nina suddenly had an idea. "Hey Layfon. Do you think they'd mind if you took Toff along with you to the picnic?"

Layfon thought for a moment, then looked at Nina. "I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Picnic?" Toff looked at both of them.

"A few friends of mine are having a picnic at the East Park," Layfon explained to him.

Toff turned to the blonde platoon leader, "Will you be going too?"

She shook her head and frowned. "No, I have some things to take care of unfortunately. I'm sure you guys will have a good time!"

Layfon agreed with her, "Yeah, it'll be fun. You'll get to meet some more people. They're really nice. Plus you'll get to taste some of Mayshen's _amazing _cooking."

Toff figured he would have a good time with or without Nina there, but he could not help but feel a little sad that she would not be at the picnic. He wondered what business she had to take care of. It had to be something important.

-**xxxxxx**-

"So how is the newest member of Zuellni doing?" asked Kalian, taking his eyeglasses off and cleaning them with a cloth. He closed his eyes as he waited for his second-in-command Vanze to report.

"He seems to have adjusted well to life here and has been accepted into the Seventeenth's company successfully. He appears to like them a lot and they in turn seem to have a taken a liking to him," Vanze said.

Kalian placed his glasses back on his face. "Good. I hope he will continue to like it here." He opened his eyes and looked at Vanze. "Did you get that apartment squared away?"

Vanze nodded. "Yes, sir. It should be ready for him by tonight."

"We'll have to let him know about his new accommodations soon then." Kalian smiled as he thought of their special guest, who really was turning out to be the newest member of Zuellni. The Council President hoped that things would continue. He had a feeling that he would prove to be a major asset, much like Layfon already was.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Chuga, chuga, chuga... choo! choo! More story will be arriving on platform 7.


	7. The Chase

**From the Ashes**

The Chase

* * *

Kyza had returned to the room of his brother's cryochamber, getting the food rations that were stored in his machine. He figured that his brother had no need for them after all, and he needed supplies himself. He had earlier recalled how to change his clothing, which took focusing his energy to have matching black robes materialize over the tights he was wearing in the first place.

He did not understand why or how, but he could sense that his brother was no longer in the immediate area. In fact, he could sense that he was far away. It appeared that thinking of his brother with enough concentration made him have a sense of his general location or direction. This also meant that his brother was still alive, though he had a feeling it would take a lot to kill his brother in the first place. Still, it was not a thought he entertained lightly.

He now had three rations to use - it was better than nothing but it was a dangerously low amount of food. He needed to figure out what he was going to do. His stomach grumbled a little, but he quickly ignored it. He could last a few more hours without food. He had to spread out what few rations he had if he was going to survive long enough to get to his brother.

His memory was coming back to him gradually. A lot of his returned memory so far concerned his family - he remembered his brother's name finally: Toffen. Thinking of his brother he felt a flash of anger. He needed to find him. A particular memory had returned to him concerning his brother.

Toffen had been placed in his cryochamber first and as their father was taking Kyza to the other chamber, the patriarch had some words to share with the young boy.

_"Kyza," his father said, catching his attention. In the background, the sounds of battle echoed from above. The hallway shook every few seconds from explosions, dust falling and metal groaning. They were nearing the room for Kyza._

_"Y-yes, father?" he asked. He was afraid, but he tried to put on a brave front._

_"You and your brother need to watch each other's backs, okay?" the old man said with a serious expression, "Protect your family. Because in the end, that's all you are left with. Do you understand me?"_

_"I-I think so... yes."_

_The door slid open and they walked into the room. The cryochamber was already open and ready, waiting for its occupant._

_Kyza got up into the machine and lay down. His father stood at his side and placed an arm on his shoulder and looking down at him with sadness in his eyes._

_"You two are meant to do great things, Kyza. You know what you two must do."_

_Kyza was starting to cry._

_"Father..."_

_"Protect your brother, Kyza. Make me proud son," and with that the old man activated the machine. It roared to life for a few seconds before the sound died down. The machine was vibrating subtly, and then the glass capsule closed and sealed with a hiss._

_Kyza could still see his father's outline through the glass, which was beginning to frost as the temperature began to drop considerably inside the capsule. Then Kyza felt something inject into his back, and his body began to relax as consciousness slowly left him._

He grit his teeth and tightened his fists as he remembered that moment. His violet eyes glowed briefly before he settled down and calmed himself. He needed to find his brother, but first he had to figure out where he was and how he was going to do get there. Going to the surface might yield some clues, so he decided to head up there immediately.

Up at the surface, he was stunned at the amount of damage to the city. He began to speculate on how long he and his brother had been in cryostasis. A very long time it seemed. The ground was still covered in dust and ash in some areas.

He noticed near the access point where he had come up from the lower levels several sets of footprints that disturbed the dust and ash. There looked to be three sets of footprints. That was the right number, since he remembered that there were three people who were caught on the security video.

Excited, he followed the footsteps towards the edge of the city. They went straight off the edge. He looked down, because unless they could fly they must have gone down to the ground. Sure enough, he spotted more footsteps in the dirt that led to what looked to be tire tracks. From what he could see, the tire tracks came from afar and then went off towards the side and off to the distance.

He squinted, trying to see how far the tire tracks went. He realized that the tracks actually disappeared, but upon closer observation he also noticed that there were even bigger tracks that crossed the path of the tire tracks. It looked to be another city similar to the one he was on, judging from the large ruts in the ground. He felt happy to at least be on the trail of the kidnappers, who no doubt did not think there was someone else there who might go after them else they would have been more careful.

Kyza crossed his arms, the wind picking up and billowing his robes about around him, his black hair waving in the wind. He closed his eyes. Outside, the connection he felt to his brother felt stronger. He could sense the general direction he was in, and he could also sense that he was alive. He opened his eyes again, violet eyes flashing. A second later, he leaped off the edge of the city.

-**xxxxxx**-

A few days journey away, Toff was walking with Layfon to the East Park when he stopped in his tracks. A strange feeling had come over him. He felt like someone was looking for him. He could sense a presence seem to reach out to him and was heading for him from somewhere far away. It was a faint feeling, but one that he had not felt before so it had given him pause. He looked around but saw no one who was looking at him.

The former Heaven's Blade noticed that his new friend was no longer next to him anymore and so he stopped, turning around to look curiously at the white-haired teen. There was definitely something bothering him.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, blue eyes filled with concern as he noticed the confusion and worry on Toff's face.

Toff shook his head, as if shaking something off. "Ah... it's... it's nothing. Just felt something a little weird for a second there..."

"Oh. Are you feeling sick?"

"No! It's not that kind of feeling. Really, I'm fine... I'm sure it's nothing."

His new friend looked at him closely and was silent for a few seconds. "Alright, if you say so..." said Layfon finally as he shrugged. "Come on then, let's get to that picnic. I'm _really _hungry."

"Right." Toff started to walk and as he caught up with Layfon they continued onward to the park.

It took them about another five minutes to make it all the way to the East Park, which was on the far edge of the city. While the Regios was circular and thus could rotate, this side generally stayed facing the east, hence the name of the park as well as the local community. It was nice and spacious, with more clear grassy fields than trees. But that was what East Park was made for, apparently.

"East Park was built with the goal of having wide open spaces for large events or to offer a nice open area for anyone to enjoy," Layfon explained to the newcomer. "It's pretty nice to run around in and maybe even play some sports, if you're into that stuff."

Toff's green eyes took in the park before them. "How many parks are there anyway?"

"Oh, there's about eight of them, but only three are major parks. North, East, and Central Park. Both North and Central are pretty similar, with lots of trees and more fountains too," Layfon answered, "The others are smaller parks, though they are also quite nice."

"I see..." Toff looked thoughtful, "I'd like to visit them too sometime. In fact, I'd like to go around and see more of Zuellni."

"Starting to like it here, huh?" asked Layfon with a big smile.

Toff chuckled. "Yeah. I guess so. It's nice here."

"Hey look, it's Layfon!" a voice cried out off to their right, causing them to turn towards the source of it.

"Layfeeee!" called another feminine voice.

Settled off to the side of one of the fields were three girls on a nice big checkered blanket. Two big wicker baskets, presumably full of food and drink, were placed neatly in the center of the blanket. The three girls sat in a semi-circle on one side of it. Two of them looked delighted to see them, or at least Layfon, while the third seemed to be looking away and was strangely silent.

Layfon laughed and walked over, waving back as he got closer.

"Hey guys!" he greeted, stopping right next to the edge of the blanket. Toff was right behind him.

"Hey Layfon! Glad you could make it," greeted a girl with purple hair. She looked curiously at his white-haired, green-eyed companion. "Who's your friend?"

Layfon half-turned and placed a hand on Toff's shoulder. "Girls, this is Toff. He's..." he looked hesitantly at Toff for a second before turning back to the girls, "He's new to Zuellni. Just got in by roaming bus a few days ago."

One of the girls, with light brown hair tied up into two pigtails, narrowed her eyes slightly. All of them noted the hesitation and were curious about it. Two of them were okay with it, but one of them - the one with pigtails - made a mental note to ask about it later because she knew no new roaming buses had arrived recently. She also shared a look with Naruki, who knew that she was already interested in finding out more about Toff.

Layfon continued the introductions. "Toff, this is Naruki, Mifi, and Mayshen." Gesturing towards the purple-haired girl, the girl with the pigtails, and then the black-haired girl who was still silent. She kept stealing glances over at Layfon and meekly said hello to the both of them, her cheeks a little red. Both Layfon and Toff wondered if she might be sick.

"Well, why don't you two sit down and we can eat some of Meicchi's amazing cooking!" suggested Mifi enthusiastically, referring to Mayshen via the nickname Mifi had given her.

"Alright! I'm starving!" Layfon responded immediately, plopping down onto the blanket and eyeing the baskets hungrily. This elicited giggles from the girls, even Mayshen, who smiled broadly after that too. They began to unpack the food.

Toff sat down next to him, his own stomach making it known that he too was actually hungry. He wondered just how good this girl's cooking really was as he thankfully accepted a bento from a still shy Mayshen.

-**xxxxxx**-

He had been running for a while. For almost half a day, in fact. He had left the ruined city with the sun nearing its zenith in the sky, and now the sun was nearing the horizon. Behind him, the ruined city was nowhere to be found. Kyza had been making good progress, though he did not know exactly how far his brother was he knew he had gotten a little closer.

Everything around him was beginning to glow orange, signalling that the day was nearing its end. He was finally starting to feel a bit tired, and though he knew he could keep going he had also been going on an empty stomach.

He needed to stop soon and eat one of the three rations he still had. He tried to find a nice, secluded spot to rest for the night. One good thing about the terrain around here was that there were a lot of places to hide, with an abundance of rock formations, some jutting out high like small mountains or large hills. This meant there were a lot of alcoves, holes, and caves to rest in.

Spotting one right in the path he was heading for, he kept going and slowed down once he was near it. The dirt cloud that had been trailing him the entire time due to the speed he was moving began to dissipate. Kyza rocketed up to a high ledge, where a small cave bored into the rockface. He stayed near the opening so as to have a little bit of light. Taking one of the remaining food rations, he wolfed it down quickly.

He was still hungry, but it was enough to tide him over for another day. He tried not to think about the fact that he did not have much food left as he sat up against the cave wall. Kyza closed his eyes and tried to get some rest.

He woke up a few hours later, his eyes fluttering open. His violet pupils glowing. Something did not feel right. His body was tense and he kept perfectly still and quiet, focusing hard on his senses. There was a scratching sound that was getting stronger as time went on. It did not seem natural. This was closely followed by the ground shaking a little and the sound of rock cracking.

He got into a crouch and moved low towards the edge of the cliff at the mouth of the cave. Looking down, he was surprised by what he saw.

There were several dozen large insect-like creatures that were coming out of a big crack in the ground that was not there previously. He wondered what the hell the things were. They looked hideous and unnatural, and something about them made him feel angry. As he continued watching, more of the insects poured out of the dark crack that cut through the ground.

They were all over the area now, some of them climbing up the rock, though it seemed that they had yet to spot him. That did not last long. A moment later, one of the insects closest to him raised an ugly head and screeched. Sharp teeth covered in saliva from a somewhat hidden mouth exposed themselves. All the other creatures stopped what they were doing and then as one began to move towards Kyza.

Looking at the insect-like creature as it screeched, memories about them flooded back to him. They were Contaminoids. And they had destroyed his city and his life. He remembered now. He remembered the destruction and the pain. The reason why his home had fallen.

His violet eyes glowed brightly as he stood up and looked down upon the advancing horde. Extending his right arm out, he grinned confidently as violet and black energy crackled out from his hand like small lightning bolts. Violet and black particles also emanated from his right hand, forming into a dark sword. The blade was black, with violet runes on it, and the hilt was made of the black material of the sword and was decorated with gold.

Kyza felt completely calm as dozens of the young Contaminoids crawled towards him hungrily. He concentrated for a second, keeping the sword out horizontally to his right. The blade began to get a dark violet aura about it. Then in one split second he slashed it downwards and across, the sword ending up horizontally to his left. The direction of his cut was down towards the climbing creatures, and as he had swung the energy that he had been focusing into the blade released outwards towards them. A visible arc of dark purple energy hurtled towards the Contaminoids and as it impacted on them it sliced through their hides with ease. With that one strike, dozens of the abominations died.

More Contaminoids were spilling out from the crack now, however, apparently the news spreading to the rest of them that there was potential food on the surface. Unfortunately for them, this food could fight back.

Kyza did not wait for the insects to climb again, many of those that had been climbing having died and fallen. He jumped off the edge of the cliff and into the heart of the horde. His sword slashed about as he moved with blinding speed across the area. The blood and guts of the Contaminoids spilled and scattered everywhere as it became a killing field.

Kyza no longer felt calm, but he actually felt excitement course through him. And joy. Overwhelming joy at the death and destruction that he was returning to the monsters that had taken so much from him. He dashed from one side to another, slicing through the young Contaminoids without much effort. They were simply no match for his skill.

He stopped in his tracks however and then leaped to higher ground as he sensed something big coming to the surface. Sure enough, after a few seconds the ground rumbled and shook. The sound of cracking earth and breaking rock echoed across the space and then the ground blasted upward in a shower of dirt and debris. A big Contaminoid about the size of the rock cliff he had been staying at reared its ugly head. It roared, announcing its presence.

More of the young Contaminoids also emerged from the depths of wherever they had been staying, but Kyza paid them no heed. His focus was solely on the big mother that had come up out of hiding. The Queen was angry and hungry. It turned its big head towards the young man and roared again, it's mouth having three jaws and opening like a flower. Sharp teeth covered nearly every inch of the inside of its mouth and a long tongue lashed out.

Kyza gave a sly grin, readying his sword. Even though this beast was much larger, Kyza still did not feel any fear or nervousness. Only anxiousness and excitement.

The enormous beast lunged forward with surprising speed for its size, mouth open as it tried to eat up the black-haired human. The ground shook from the force of its strike as clouds of dirt erupted around the place it had struck. Pieces of the rock face fell, cracked and broken. Even though it had attacked swiftly, it was still not fast enough to have caught the young man who was currently a few dozen feet in the air above the beast.

Kyza looked at the big monster with disdain. He angled his body downward, sword readied near his hip with the pointy end towards the creature and thus parallel to his body. The sword began to glow with the dark purple energy again. He fell down towards the exposed neck of the Queen, which was slowly pulling itself back from its attack. When he got close enough he swung out his sword and struck cleanly through it. He landed with a light thud on the ground, one knee down as well as his left hand to steady himself. His right arm was out, sword extended to the side. His violet eyes were still glowing.

The cut suddenly appeared on the neck of the creature, having been split in two with the part with the head beginning to fall and the part attached to the body whipping backwards. There was a slight delay in the reaction due to the speed of the attack. Both ends spewed green blood and slime. To make sure he had finished the big one off, he launched three more attacks that opened huge gashes in the body of the Queen.

He frowned, disappointed at how easy that encounter had been. Perhaps this Queen was not as strong as some other ones. He hoped that he could find more challenging battles in the future. While it was great that he could dispatch of the Contaminoids with such ease and that he was exacting vengeance on them for what they had done to his city, it still did not feel as good as it should have because of how easy the whole ordeal was.

Kyza then spent the next few minutes cleaning up the remaining juvenile forms. Once he was finished, he breathed out slowly and looked around at the carnage. Around him lay the decimated Contaminoid nest. His eyes slowly lost the glow of violet energy and he felt his heart rate slow to a comfortable pace.

As the battle had progressed, he had been recalling more and more of his past training. He now remembered much of it, with some higher-end skills that he knew existed but could not quite remember how to do just yet. It would come to him in time, he figured. At least now he knew how to defend himself against the Filth Monsters known as Contaminoids.

He wondered why he could not have done this to save his city. He did not remember what the reasoning was as to why they were squirreled away while their city burned under the foul beasts when they could have done something. There had to have been a good reason. But what that reason was, he did not know. Perhaps his brother could remind him when he they were finally reunited.

Thinking of his brother made him turn to look at the direction of where he could feel his brother's presence. Why had they taken Toffen and not him as well? He wondered if perhaps they were unaware that there were two of them, or maybe there was something that Toff could do that Kyza could not? Whatever questions he had could only be answered by catching up to them though, he knew that.

Deciding that he couldn't possibly fall sleep after such a battle, he started back on the chase to catch up to his brother and his captors. He leaped up over the rock hill and down the other side. His movements were graceful and purposeful. His legs moved quickly underneath him and he was soon picking up speed at an immense rate as he moved forward to his destination, a dust cloud settling in behind him.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Next stop, the 8th platform. Still surprised at how few fanfic readers there are of this anime/manga, not to mention writers. Oh well.


End file.
